My husband and I are from New York. We were married last August in Dubrovnik  it was one of the best decisions of our lives.

Following a trip to the Caucasus last spring, we decided on a destination wedding. As a child growing up in the former Yugoslavia, I vacationed in Dubrovnik several times and remembered it as a fairy-tale town. After looking at various websites, virtual tours and pictures of the city, my husband became equally excited about a Croatian wedding. The planning process was somewhat demanding, but also fun. If you are considering a wedding in Dubrovnik, do not fear. You can do most of the planning yourself, but if you need help, you have an option of contracting one of the local wedding planners for the more challenging aspects of the ceremony and/or reception.

After days of looking at different venues in Dubrovnik, Nautica, Dubrovnik Palace, and Labyrinth came out as our leading choices. We contacted all three venues via email to get a better sense of their organization and prices. We were very perplexed with Nauticas pricing system, but the restaurant looked very nice on their website. Moreover, the sales representative at Nautica seemed somewhat unprofessional in her manner and did not inspire much confidence. Labyrinth also looked inviting, but the price there was 6,700 Euro minimum, which was on the steeper side considering that we were to have no more than 50 guests.

After reviewing all the comments and this board (very helpful), we also contacted Dubrovnik Palace. We didn't like the fact that it was several miles away from the town, but we thought we would give it a shot. The Dubrovnik Palace representative, Ines Prescanin, is an extremely able and competent wedding planner; she responded to all our emails almost immediately. She sent us dozens of pictures, menues, etc. We felt that the planning would be a breeze if she were to help us. The cost of food was also quite affordable at about 60 Euro per person. Most importantly, pictures of the Vala Beach Club looked great. We were quite confident that Vala would be a perfect place, but we thought we would not make the final decision until we saw all the venues in person.

A month later, we were on the plane to Croatia. We took 10 days off work with the goal of finalizing our choice of venue and finding and contracting various vendors. We first flew to Zagreb, where we got the necessary documents from the American Embassy (papers certifying that were not already married and that our marriage would be recognized in the United States) and afterwards we went to the Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where we obtained a special stamp for the papers we received from the embassy. This whole process took us only 3 hours and we were able to catch a flight to Dubrovnik that same afternoon.

On our first day in Dubovnik we went to visit Dubrovnik Palace. We thought it was very nice and Vala definitely would have provided a dramatic setting for the wedding. Nautica was just too small and not as nice as pictured. Labyrinth was also quite attractive; however, after we saw Hotel Excelsiors Palm Terrace, we knew that we found our dream site. The terrace is situated right on the sea, with a spectacular view of the old town. The hotel, although not as modern as Dubrovnik Palace, was old-school elegant. The following evening, we had dinner at Excelsior (Taverna Rustica) and just loved the food. We met with Ivana, Excelsiors wedding coordinator, and found out that Excelsior was only slightly more expensive than Dubrovnik Palace. Ivana invited us to take a peak at the wedding they were organizing that weekend (you have a decent view of the Palm Terrace from the Piano Bar, also in the Hotel). What we saw that evening exceeded all our expectations. Later in the week, we met with Ivana again and learned that, in addition to the food, Excelsior would provide basic decorations, print out wedding menus, and seating arrangement charts for free. In addition, we would get a free suite on the night of our wedding. Pretty cool . We would only need to provide table flowers/decorations or, alternatively, Excelsior could do it for us for an additional fee.

With the dinner venue taken care of, we redirected our energy to finding a ceremony site and booking vendors. One day, by accident, while visiting the Lokrum Island (a beautiful natural preserve, only a 10-minute boat ride from Old Town), we stumbled across a wedding ceremony in their gardens, only meters away from the sea. The ceremony and decorations looked beautiful  flowers and white covered chairs among impressive Roman ruins. We discretely observed from afar; we knew we found a perfect spot. However, after a careful consideration, we realized that planning a ceremony on the island meant that we would have to get someone to decorate the site, bring chairs and covers from Dubrovnik (the only establishment on the island is a small casual restaurant), organize boat transportation for our guests, etc. It would have been too much So, we hired Nina Bos of Dubrovnik Riviera Weddings to manage the ceremony part. She was very professional and having already organized a wedding on the island, she knew what needed to be done. We still would handle all paperwork, arrange for the city registrar and translator (as required per Croatian law).

By the time we returned to the States, we had already completed the necessary paperwork, found the venue for the ceremony and dinner, florist, contracted the band, and also found accommodations for most of our close friends and family. We found most vendors via word of month, by talking to the locals, and we actively asked everyone we met at different venues whom they recommended (Dubrovcani are exceedingly friendly). At home, we printed the invitations, set up our wedding website, decided on a specific flower design, menu and drinks. We decided that our wedding day would unfold like this:

4:00pm: Guests meet at the port in Old Town for boat transportation to Lokrum4:30pm: Wedding Ceremony5:00pm: Champagne and canapés reception (wedding party takes pictures around the island)6:00pm: Boat takes guests back to Dubrovnik 6:30-7:30pm: Cocktail hour at the Piano Bar terrace (wedding party takes pictures in Old Town)7:30-1:00am: Dinner, dancing at the Palm Terrace

We arrived to Dubrovnik five days before the wedding, took care of some last minute details (submitted the original paperwork to the city registrar, as opposed to the faxed copies we initially sent, hired a court translator, and sent the seating arrangements to Excelsior). We also had the rehearsal dinner and planned some pre-wedding activities for our guests.

The wedding day was just gorgeous: sunny weather, spectacular settings, and excellent service at Excelsior and also by Nina on the island. Now, five months later, our friends and family still talk about it as the best wedding they have ever witnessed. And my husband and I are certain that it was the best and most memorable day of our lives.

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While we were in the planning stages, we were most curious about the prices for each vendor. I hope you will find this list helpful:

Food: We had a 6-course meal at Excelsior for 75 Euro (their menus start at around 60 Euro)Drinks: We bought wines from Nina Bos (6-9 Euro) and Excelsior charged us 5 Euro corkage fee per bottle (7 Euro for sparkling wines). This way we saved significantly. Soft drinks were provided by the hotel at about 1.5 Euro per glass.

Band: We hired a 5-member band called Dariva and paid 1000 Euro. They played from 8:30pm until 12:45am. They were great performers and entertainers, knew a lot of songs (both American and former-Yugo). Whatever our guests requested, they were able to play well!

Flowers: 50 Euro Brides bouquet, 35 Euro bridesmaids bouquets, 40 Euro flowers for each table at Kike flower shop in Old Town. The flowers looked very nice, however, the arrangements did not look much like the pictures from the magazine which I provided to the florist beforehand. More generally, bouquets and table arrangements start at around 15-20 Euro and depend on the type of flowers requested. If you choose to mix various green fillers with flowers, you can save significantly (for example mixing roses and baby breath can lower the price by 10 or more Euros per bouquet/table arrangement)

Photographer: 600 Euro  he took pictures of the ceremony and dinner. Between the two events, he took pictures of the bride and groom around the island and in the Old Town. The package included a 70-page album and picture CD with about 450 shots. He did an excellent job and everyone raves about our pictures. We only wish that he took a few more creative pictures during dinner and dancing.

Videographer: 400 Euro  he is the photographers brother. He is quite talented, but I think he is still learning about wedding videography. We are happy to have the video and the price was very good. However, he did not capture some important aspects of the event (grooms father speech, for example).

Boat: Nina Bos hired an attractive oldtimer boat -- which could seat 53 persons -- to take the guests to the island and back. The boat cost us 700 Euro.

String quartet: 400 Euro for about 2 hours (ceremony and reception cocktails). The players were the lead violinists from the Dubrovnik Symphony and did a superb job.

Cake: Our very delicious cake was made by Excelsior pastry chef for about 2 Euro per person. Excelsior does not offer hard marzipan cakes in extravagant shapes, but the presentation is still very dramatic as the pastry chef wheels it out on a cart with sparklers.

Hair and make-up: My bridesmaids and I did our hair, make up, and manicure at the beauty studio Ana (tucked away in a small alley about 50 meters away from Pile Gate  just ask for directions any woman who works around there). The cost was about 100 Euro per person; we were all very happy with the final product. Make sure that you book your appointment several weeks in advance. I have heard that the hair salon at Dubrovnik Palace is very good, but I havent tried it.

Finally, if you publish your email address on this board, I would be more than happy to send you a link to our website where we posted all of our wedding pictures.

Good luck!Sanja Hi Sanja !We are the company that made the DVD of your wedding. Thank you for your compliment that we're talented but I need to make a few comments myself. I would like to say that we have been involved in video filming for about twenty years now and with our experience we don't like leaving our customers unsatisfied a one bit. We are a group of people who enjoy in what we do and we do it with love.The reason that we cut off those parts of the speech is that it didn't fit in, by our humble judgement, in the whole mood of the movie. In order to show you that we recorded every important part of your beautifull wedding (including the speeches) we are ready to send you the miniDV tapes and/or DVD's with the raw (unedited) material so you can edit your wedding as you like. We are open for questions and your suggestions. You can e-mail us on E-mail: vsp-video-dubrovnik@du.t-com.hr

hi everyone.my h2b and me are trying to plan our wedding in dubrovnik for july 2010,would be most grateful for all suggestions you may have. look forward to hearing from you.

bye for now

michelle

HI MICHELLE!

congrats for your wedding! we are too planning a wedding in Dubrovnik, this year in May (it's getting scarily close! and we were recommended (by a hotel we contacted) a local wedding planner- Ines from Dubrovnik event. She used to work at hotel Dubrovnik Palace for a few years before starting her own wedding planning business (there are some good posts about her work here as well, what gave me extra confidence to contact her). You can check them our at dubrovnikevent.com I am sure you'll be happy, as we really are- Ines arranged absolutely everything for us, including accommodation, dinner venue, flowers, photographer, boat cruise after the ceremony, all documentation which I am sure would've been a nightmare for us to do on our own, and pretty much every single detail for our wedding. Now we just pray for nice weather.

To tell you the truth I was a bit skeptic at first as I heard things and people in Croatia take a while for everything, but I was really pleasantly surprised with Ines's prompt and professional replies and detailed offers that were completely matching our wishes. Anyways, all in all, my warm recommendation, I hope I helped.

Wishing you all the fun in your wedding planning! feel free to let me know if there's anything else I can help you with...Cheers,Rozz

« Last Edit: January 26, 2009, 10:05:46 pm by admin »

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Aine

Off all the sites that I have reviewed, your narrative has to be the best and most detailed. It is so difficult to ask other ladies in a similar situation - how much did you spend on this? I really did find that part really beneficial and the differences of the restaurants etc.Is there any chance you could send on some of your wedding pictures! So excited : )

Fiona

We are looking at getting married in Dubrovnik in May / June 2010 - can't wait!

Sanja - I would also be thrilled if you would please send me on your photos!! (fi.hickey@gmail.com)

Rozz - v concerned about previous messages re. Ines - we are considering using her and are unsure of what to think now?! I contacted Nina about 48 hours ago but have had no response as of yet... Does anyone else know anything about Ines? She mailed me back very promptly and seemed extremely nice and helpful in her mail and has also offered to contact me by telephone to make it easier and more personal. She came across very well in our initial contact.

Alot of people appear to book a restaurant and then a seperate venue. Can I not do all of this in the one place?

I have also been advised to not choose a Sat. wedding due to tourists and other weddings taking place, but flights from Dublin won't allow us to do it on a Friday unless people will fly in on a Wednesday - we're very conscious of asking people to sacrifice holidays for us (many are planning their own weddings and honeymoons for later in 2010!). Is it possible to marry on a Sun? I don't think it is here in Ireland.

We would be delighted to get any feeback!

Thx

Fiona

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Kat

This is silly advice. We had a saturday wedding in the cathedral, it is difficult to get a spot in the major churches but this shouls not be YOUR problem, but the planners. You might have some gawking tourists, but they are all respectful of the service and if not the nuns will beat them.

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Kat

To the photographer inquiry on the previous page: we used a place called "Fotostar" in a section of town called Babin Kuk and a videographer form the same shop. They were great , as some places will give you the CD with you wedding photos- but they will protect them by placing the logo all over the picture. Fotostar did not do any of this nonsense, and they had a few sample shots we really liked and replicated for our wedding.

glad to hear you're planning your day in Dubrovnik as well! I am getting really excited as it's a bit more than one month away! As for Ines, choosing her as my wedding planner was my best decision, really- from first email she has been prompt, professional and very friendly and has made me very confident about my wedding planning... so i strongly recommend her! She's arranged everything for us with such a good attitude and i have changed my plans quite a few times hope this helps, wishing you great fun and a great wedding in Dubrovnik!Rozz

We are looking at getting married in Dubrovnik in May / June 2010 - can't wait!

Sanja - I would also be thrilled if you would please send me on your photos!! (fi.hickey@gmail.com)

Rozz - v concerned about previous messages re. Ines - we are considering using her and are unsure of what to think now?! I contacted Nina about 48 hours ago but have had no response as of yet... Does anyone else know anything about Ines? She mailed me back very promptly and seemed extremely nice and helpful in her mail and has also offered to contact me by telephone to make it easier and more personal. She came across very well in our initial contact.

Alot of people appear to book a restaurant and then a seperate venue. Can I not do all of this in the one place?

I have also been advised to not choose a Sat. wedding due to tourists and other weddings taking place, but flights from Dublin won't allow us to do it on a Friday unless people will fly in on a Wednesday - we're very conscious of asking people to sacrifice holidays for us (many are planning their own weddings and honeymoons for later in 2010!). Is it possible to marry on a Sun? I don't think it is here in Ireland.

Anne

Its been so long since I have been on this site! I got Married in Dubrovnik in June 2007, we got married in St. Ignatius in the old town, We only found out a few day before our church which we booked st balise was closed for Health and Safety, we then had Our reception in the Dubrovnik Palace. Ines Prescan was our wedding planner from the hotel. She was fantastic, I could not fault her in anyway. I was shocked to read negative remarks about her and her new company, but delighted then when I read on that it was an exposure of another business putting alternative companies down. I believe it shows there lack of professionalism. Ines was always professional, paid close attention to detail and she never left me hanging around for a response to a query.Ines recommended a band called Taliri which were amazing, I would recommend people look into them further, as they cater for all ages and genres and really made the day (and night). Ines also recommend a Videographer and a Photographer, They were amazing, we expected fantastic photos but what we recieved blew us away. I would recommend the Vala Beach Club for a wedding venue. it felt like you were in your own little paradise with your guests, it was private, had amazing views and the Food was incrediable!feel free to contact me on felixespixie@yahoo.co.uk if you have any questions, I maybe a little slow to respond, (but im not running a business) but i will come back to you. Enjoy the wedding planning, I wish i was back doing it!A

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crobride

Hi Luelly,Just saw that post about the band...We're organising our wedding for May 2010 and heard a band called Teatar last Saturday. THere's 6 in it..all can sing, girl has FAB voice. They're the sort of band that u cant sit still to. Perfect for us. They have a big playlist including 100 songs in English and some salsa'y latino stuff too. I cant recommend them highly enough. Da Riva were next on our list to listen to..they're suppsoed to be great too but we've decided to go with Teatar.

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Anca

I am getting married in Dubrovnik - April 2010. We already booked Neptun hotel's restaurant as a wedding ceremony location. We had lots of trouble finiding a place as a lot of the hotels will be closed that time and we cannot have an outdoor reception that early in the year... Anyone knows how this restaurant is? Pictures look nice but I don't really know if it is as nice as it looks...

I am getting married in Dubrovnik - April 2010. We already booked Neptun hotel's restaurant as a wedding ceremony location. We had lots of trouble finiding a place as a lot of the hotels will be closed that time and we cannot have an outdoor reception that early in the year... Anyone knows how this restaurant is? Pictures look nice but I don't really know if it is as nice as it looks...

An outdoor reception is always great in a wedding if the weather agrees.Me and my wife was able to dine in that restaurant with her family, it was great. The reception, service and the food was good. Me and my family enjoyed dining at that place.